7.12.13

A CENTURY OF MAXIMUMS

From
Oldham Civic Centre to the Barbican in York with many stops in between it has
taken just under 32 years since Steve Davis made the first official 147 break
for Mark Selby to compile the 100th.

Fittingly,
it was dramatic. Selby played a great shot to go round the table from brown to
blue but was left needing the rest for the pink. He potted it but was left with
a tough black, which he dropped in dead weight to the left middle.

It
was a moment of magic and a moment of history, a milestone that was thankfully
achieved in a televised match.

Selby
had missed the final black on 140 in last season’s China Open but, with the
pressure on and £59,000 available for the maximum, was cool and deadly accurate
in sinking the final ball.

When
Davis made his 147 at the 1982 Lada Classic in Oldham it was a significant
first. The maximum has enlivened many an event since.

Of
the 100, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan have each made 11. John Higgins
has made seven.

A
total of 52 players from 13 different nations are on the list of 100 maximums.
Selby’s was the 50th on television.

Maximums
became more common as the professional game expanded with more players, became more attacking and playing conditions
more conducive to heavy scoring.

There
were eight compiled in the 1980s, 26 in the 1990s, 35 in the 2000s and 31 so
far in this decade.

But
when you consider the thousands and thousands of frames that have been played –
from World Championship finals down to the lowliest qualifier – 100 isn’t that
many.

There
were 11 in 2012 but for all the snooker played this year there have been four
in 2013.

It
is still an achievement worth celebrating, as Selby and the Barbican crowd did
with sheer joy.

The
maximum break, made under the pressure of tournament play, is that rare thing –
perfection in a very exacting sport.

Dave,Why is it for many years the Joe Davis and Rex Williams maximum breaks were considered 'official' (and the first and second to be ratified as world records)and now they do not count?I appreciate that Steve Davis' break was the first compiled in a tournament on a templated table (where John Spencer's was not).I'm curious as to who writes the 'record books' and why the Davis & Williams maximums have fallen from favour.Tim Sandle

Tim, I'm pretty sure the list on which Selby's was the 100th is the 'tournament' 147s and as such Williams's and Davis's have never counted.

They do remain, though, the first two maximums officially made - but you would then have a larger list because (for example) O'Sullivan's in the Legends event at Croydon would have to count, along with lots of others. (On second thoughts, the Croydon table appeared much more generous than the official templates would allow, but even so the point stands.)